


"Sometimes this Special Drink is the Only Way Mommy can love Daddy"

by MaddieFrickenClark



Series: A Perfect Dysfunction - a Clark/Manawa Family AU [2]
Category: Fear the Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Abused!Maddie, Abusive Stephen, Alcohol, Bruises, Drugs, F/M, FearTWDFamily!VerseAU, Madison Clark killed her husband, Mother-Son Relationship, Nick wants to protect his mother, Stephen is terrible, Young Nick, abused Maddie, alcoholic mother, children of abuse, domestic abuse, little nick, no one will ever tell me otherwise, she deserves better, she wanted to protect her babies, young mom maddie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-26
Updated: 2016-11-26
Packaged: 2018-09-02 07:53:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,383
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8658679
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MaddieFrickenClark/pseuds/MaddieFrickenClark
Summary: He'd known for as long as he could remember. He'd seen the scars, he'd heard his daddy yelling, he'd seen her cry. No one was allowed to make his mommy cry like that.





	

For as long as Nick Clark could remember, he'd always associated his mom with the smell of liquor. Whenever he'd think of her, think of her thick dyed blonde hair, think of her big, empty eyes, he'd imagine catching a waft of a sharp, stiff drink. 

Since he'd been a child, he'd always pictured his mommy with a glass in her hand. It was the same glass he'd seen her holding one night when he hadn't been able to sleep. Six or seven at the time, he'd slipped out of his bed and hurried into the living room, with the intention of sneaking a late night cartoon. Instead, he'd found his mom, seated at the table, glass in her hand and tears glistening against her pale cheeks. He'd asked her what was wrong, and she'd just looked him, dead in eyes, a sad smile on her lips, and replied, "sometimes this special drink is the only way mommy can love daddy."

In hindsight, he was sure as hell that his mom had been drunk, and he knew that she most definitely didn't remember the exchange. He'd never forgotten it though, once his mom had whispered that sentence something changed, a dynamic shifted, he saw his father in a different light. 

Nick had always loved his father. Stephen Clark was his dad, his main male influence, but as he got older he began to notice things he hadn't noticed before. Bruises. All over his mom. She'd attempt to conceal them with her makeup but it never fully worked. She carried herself differently, as though she was defeated, and one time Nick noticed a bandage on her arm. 

"I spilt some hot water, baby, that's all."

He wished that he could have believed her but he had heard his dad's voice earlier that day. He had heard yelling, screaming, the sound of something shattering, and then he heard his mom crying. He hated that sound, no one was allowed to make his mom cry like that.

On many occasions, late at night, he'd hear his bedroom door creak open and watch as his mom crept in. The blonde would ask him to scoot over and he would, giving her room to curl up next to her baby boy. He'd ask if she was okay, she'd always say yes, but he swore that he could hear her crying late in the night, probably when she thought he was asleep.

Nick asked his younger sister, Alicia, if mom had ever spent the night in her room, and Alicia had shaken her head. Maybe his mom thought that he was stronger than his sister and that he could protect her better. He swore he would, that he'd do whatever he could to protect his mommy. 

"Bitch, stupid alcoholic bitch!" 

"Fuck off Stephen, I'm not doing this anymore."

He'd heard his daddy call his mommy a lot of things, but that was the first time he'd heard her say anything back. His mom liked using bad words, she swore a lot in her day to day life, but she'd made Nick and his sister promise not to repeat the words she said.

He remembered cuddling under the duvet and listening. He hated hearing his mom angry, it scared him, his daddy was angry a lot, which meant he liked making sure his mommy wasn't. 

"You can do whatever you want to me Stephen Clark but I swear to god I won't fucking let you hurt my children. You so much as even lay a hand on them and I will fucking kill you."

He wondered how much of a coincidence it was that his daddy died in a car crash a couple of years later. His mom told him over and over that it was an accident, that he'd been tired, that he'd fallen asleep. He was sad, of course, his dad had died, but when his mom had arrived at the rehab clinic he was currently in, her face more haunted than usual, he felt his heart break. In reality, he cried for his mother, for the beaten, battered, destroyed woman who loved him regardless of his addiction.

 

How he had gotten so hooked so quickly was still a mystery to him. He'd been at school and one of the boys had approached him, sly grin, and offered him a pill. He'd taken it, out of a mixture of stupidity and a fear that he would be deemed weak by his friends if he didn't. He'd been addicted immediately, he'd started stealing cash from his mom and using it to fund his habit. He bought the meds out of the other boy’s locker and this cycle continued until those pills alone weren't enough. Heroin was better, it was his escape. When he was high he had no worries in the world. He felt delirious, happy, overcome by a fake, forced, bought sense of euphoria. Just a simple needle into a vein and, bam, suddenly he no longer saw his mother crying, heard his father yelling, he no longer felt like he was disappointment. 

 

Maybe he had more in common with his mommy than he first thought. He liked his drugs, she liked her liquor. They both knew that they were killing themselves and, yet, they kept going, using, dying.

 

During the period where he lived in a drug den, overcome by a synthetic high, Nick Clark’s mother fell in love. Travis Manawa, he was Nick’s high school English teacher. He was nice guy, Nick supposed, but he seemed to be trying too hard. Too hard to be a replacement for Nick’s father. While he was using he only encountered Travis once or twice. Maybe he’d acted a bit too bitter but, than again, kids weren't supposed to like their stepparents.

 

This changed once he got clean though. The result of a car crash and the fact that he had almost died led him finally realise that their was more to life than drugs. He kicked his habit, got back into community college and fell for a beautiful Mexican immigrant that was in some of his classes.

 

While recovering Nick had moved back into his mom’s house. Travis had moved in at some point over the last couple of years. He tried to hate the man but, for some completely unclear reason, he couldn't. It was probably due to the way Travis treated his mom. It was a complete opposite as to how his dad had acted. Travis seemed to love her, respect her, treat her how she deserved to be treated. Nick knew that his mother was a wonderful woman, he had known that she deserved better ever since he'd been a child. Madison Clark deserved a man who made her laugh, not cry, and helped heal her scars, instead of creating more.

 

His mother acted totally different around Travis, she seemed happy, for once, and it seemed that she couldn’t keep her hands off of him. He cringed and commented with his sister about all the gross ‘sex noises’ they had to hear most nights, but despite this, Nick knew he'd rather hear his step dad screwing his mom than his real dad abusing her.

 

“Mom, you really love Travis, don't you?” 

 

She had shaken her head slowly and a small smile had formed on her face, “I do, and you know what makes it all better baby? The fact that he loves me back.”

 

Had his dad ever loved her? He wasn't sure if she'd ever loved the man herself, especially if it took a bottle of vodka for her to just to spend the night in the same room as her husband. 

 

He knew that his father was always going to be his father, but he had also come to the realisation that Travis could be his father as well. If he was ever to have a child of his own one day, he'd be proud for them to call Travis ‘grandpa’. He was good to the boy’s mom, and considering that, the boy felt the need to show him the respect that he deserved. 

 

Nick Clark loved the smell of liquor, mainly because it reminded him of his mom, and he really loved his mom, more than anyone else in the whole entire world.


End file.
